Spring clips or resilient clips are available in various configurations and materials. Many such clips are adapted to be used with an associated support rod, such as clothes hangers and the like, and are designed to be pivotally attached thereto. In such designs, the rod acts not only as a pivot for the clip, but also as an integral component of the clip device. Such clips are disclosed in Bisk et al. U.S. Pat. No. Re 32,269 and Morish et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,276.
In many spring clip arrangements which are adapted for use with a support rod, such as the cross bar of a hanger, the support rod is necessary to use the clip as intended. The support bar acts as the fulcrum or pivot point for the clip and further provides structural stability to the clip by maintaining the spring or biasing member in tension. If the clip is not assembled to the support bar, the clip components have no means by which to remain in an assembled configuration. Thus, once the clip is removed from the support bar, the clip components are easily separated and frequently lost, rendering the clip unusable.
Efforts have been made to design spring clips which do not require a support rod to properly function. Such clips include independent pivot support means to provide a fulcrum for the clips, the fulcrum point typically being displaced from the axis of rotation of the clip. The unreliability and complexity of many clips, which are intended to operate with and without a support rod, have detracted from the clip's usefulness and satisfactory operation.
Many of the problems with clip designs were addressed by the clip disclosed in Hunter, U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,728, which patent is commonly assigned herewith, and which patent is incorporated by reference hereby. The Hunter patent discloses a resilient clip which is constructed of a minimum number of parts and which clip pivots about a point that remains unchanged whether the clip is used with a support rod or independently thereof. The clip disclosed in Hunter also remains assembled when used with or without a support rod. The clip disclosed in the Hunter patent may be difficult to operate, and can become inadvertently disassembled. In addition, the spring member is not independently secured to either jaw other than as part of the assembly with both jaws in place.
It would be desirable therefore to provide a spring clip or resilient clip which is capable of being supported on a support rod such as a hanger cross bar and which is also capable of use independently thereof. It would also be desirable for such clip to be easily used, constructed of a minimum number of parts, and for the spring of the clip to be independently retained or engaged to either jaw of the clip, even when the opposing jaw is not in place, i.e., when the clip is partially disassembled.